Saturday, July 8, 2017

Local Saturday - Neighbors

For much of my life in upstate New York, I was fortunate enough to live in a stable neighborhood with long time neighbors.  The neighbor on one side had lived in his house since the 1950's, and enjoyed my son's company.  The neighbor on the other side moved into his house in early 1990.  Across the street was another long time neighbor, and, nearby was still another neighbor, in a rental, who also had struck up a relationship with my son (who was growing up back then.)

Times change.  People change.

One neighbor retired to North Carolina.  One is in a nursing home, his mind claimed by dementia.  One died.

But yesterday evening, we had a short mini reunion. Parked in front of the house of the neighbor who is in the nursing home, we found his youngest son, who was in high school when we moved in.  His hairline is receded now.  His wife, who is a minister, talked to someone nearby.  The former neighbor works with teens at his local church.

They were there to pick up something belonging to his father.

What memories did that object bring back to my former neighbor?

Talking to him brought back memories for me, too.

One of them was about the death of his mother, which will be the basis of my first Falling Wednesday rerun feature on Wednesday.  Then, it made me think of my mother in law, trying to recover from her latest fall.
Is life like a bowl of cherries?

One of the things constant about life is change.  (Taxes, too.  And getting older.)

Join me Wednesday for my first Falling Wednesday.

Day 8 of the Ultimate Blog Challenge #blogboost

10 comments:

  1. Yes, times change and it is hard to watch and people grow up and apart. I still remember our neighbors we had as kids and think about them often. I would love to see them but the one I was closet to passed away. So I haven't reached out to the others but it might be time for me to do just that.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Looking forward to learning about and reading your Falling Wednesday. True, there are few constants in life, and change is one of them. Change indicates life. Thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I thought life was like a box of chocolates. Sometimes its full of nuts.

    ReplyDelete
  4. We are the last holdouts in our neighbourhood! Everyone else has moved in since we arrived. Wonderful people, but I just can't help but remember growing up in a small town in Southern Alberta with families who had all built at the same time. Moved in, ditto. Stayed right through their kids'school years. And lived in the same homes till they moved to something a bit more 'senior'. That is unusual now. So glad you still have a connection! And looking forward to that post!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Change is good. But it is scary. And life is all about change!

    ReplyDelete

  6. One of the things constant about life is change. So true. Enjoyed reading your post and stories of your neighbourhood.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I have similar feelings when I go back home. So many missing faces and the kids have grown up too. How times change!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Nice that you had a mini reunion but I've also found that they bring on many other memories. Yes things change, but we can hold on to our memories forever.

    ReplyDelete
  9. It's always a wrench to go home again and see the changes wrought by time in beloved faces - and to realize that they are seeing the same changes in yours. Life is about change, but that isn't always a bad thing. If we are lucky, our life experiences have made us wiser and more able to appreciate what we have and the people around us.

    ReplyDelete
  10. It can be fun to get together with old friends. Sad, too.

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for visiting! Your comments mean a lot to me, and I appreciate each one. These comments are moderated, so they may not post for several hours. If you are spam, you will find your comments in my compost heap, where they will finally serve a good purpose.